How to deal with a coach who knows his stuff but can't run his business

Call him. Communication is a 2 way street. Do NOT count on emails or texting as both are extremely poor forms of communication anyway. Grow a pair and make the phone call.

I appreciate the reply and do recognize my contribution to the gaps in communication- however, while it's "on me" to not be passive aggressive, etc at the end of the day I am the one who is paying for service--I'm the customer, and it's not my responsibility to sort of track him down and get workouts sent to me, when this is what I pay him for. -I guess my question was more along the lines of looking for guidance in terms of keeping him as a coach or not. Did not mention the coaching fees, which are not the highest out there but not free either--just enough that it's something I think about when things aren't going well. This might be too much of a personal decision for anyone to answer--relative balance between excellent coaching skills but poor business skills.

I agree with "Call him". If I were the Coach I would double what he is charging you in hopes of discouraging you from coming back. A needy athlete is no fun to coach.

The "I am the customer" attitude is very telling.

You might find it telling but that is how the world works.

Your world may work that way, not everyone's. I wouldn't want to coach you for $10k a month based on your whiny attitude.

OK thanks, Clearly you won't be additive to my question.

xlev2 wrote:

I'm the customer, and it's not my responsibility to sort of track him down and get workouts sent to me, when this is what I pay him for. .

Oh, I'm sorry I thought you were looking for a solution to communicate with a coach that knows his stuff? I am beginning to see Ned's point. It seems like you have certain expectations of how you want things to work and anything less than that is not acceptable. Find another coach. I am not saying that just to help you. I think I am also helping your current coach.

Yeah, it's a personal decision, and kind of based on how direct you like to be. I can be a bit direct, which carries the risk of making someone uncomfortable, or rubbing them the wrong way, etc. For example, in your situation, I would be inclined to say to the coach that the communication needs improvement. I do try to be a little nice or jokey about things, like I might say, "Hey, I was filling out report cards and you got an A for coaching knowledge, but I was debating between a D+ or C- for your communication skills-- what do you think it should be?" Or I will be overly familiar with someone, i,e., treating a business relationship like a personal one by saying, "Hey man..." or "Hey dude....", so it would be something like, "Hey man, what's with you and your communication skills, or lack thereof? What's going on with you? Is everything ok?"

But you always have to be prepared to walk away, if you alienate the person.

Yeah, it's a personal decision, and kind of based on how direct you like to be. I can be a bit direct, which carries the risk of making someone uncomfortable, or rubbing them the wrong way, etc. For example, in your situation, I would be inclined to say to the coach that the communication needs improvement. I do try to be a little nice or jokey about things, like I might say, "Hey, I was filling out report cards and you got an A for coaching knowledge, but I was debating between a D+ or C- for your communication skills-- what do you think it should be?" Or I will be overly familiar with someone, i,e., treating a business relationship like a personal one by saying, "Hey man..." or "Hey dude....", so it would be something like, "Hey man, what's with you and your communication skills, or lack thereof? What's going on with you? Is everything ok?"

But you always have to be prepared to walk away, if you alienate the person.

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Thanks, that's helpful. As I said in the OP I actually like him a lot as a person--we go way back and I was one of his first clients when he first launched his coaching biz after retiring from racing. So that creates an inner conflict for me as well. Basically I don't have the heart to hurt his feelings and yes it's hard for me to be direct too.

Yeah, I mean it's all well and good to be like this (from 1:42 on, for about a minute):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5QEr0q9hjQ

But it can be difficult if it's a friend or someone you like...

are you improving? / making progress w running

xlev2 wrote:

I appreciate the reply and do recognize my contribution to the gaps in communication- however, while it's "on me" to not be passive aggressive, etc at the end of the day I am the one who is paying for service--I'm the customer, and it's not my responsibility to sort of track him down and get workouts sent to me, when this is what I pay him for. -I guess my question was more along the lines of looking for guidance in terms of keeping him as a coach or not. Did not mention the coaching fees, which are not the highest out there but not free either--just enough that it's something I think about when things aren't going well. This might be too much of a personal decision for anyone to answer--relative balance between excellent coaching skills but poor business skills.

you're the customer? Then stop paying! Find a coach who is willing to email every few days.

are you improving? / making progress w running

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Hands down yes by any metric--I enjoy it more, am more consistent, not injured and exceeded every expectation possible for my last race--5K on TG. As I said he is a methodical, detail oriented coach who understands his athletes and produces results.

Perhaps this is the only question that needs to be asked--

My coach and I set up a plan and then I run the plan. I only contact him when I have questions. If he doesn't get back to me in about 12 hours, I call. It didn't take many calls for him to understand that by the time I get to emailing him I really need help.

Probably a good idea. give a pre-set amt of time to hear back or go to the next step. I've asked him before if I email too much or are the emails too long etc and he has always said no not at all. He would probably admit himself being organized is not his strong suit, and he may be a perfectionist as well. For example, I never get a workout that says "run easy" or "run 3 miles moderate" etc.--always very detailed in terms of warm up warm down etc. So he is delivering quality training.

If your coaching structure consists of spotty email, text and phone contact and no personal sessions, you are not being coached. Receiving workouts to execute is called training. Coaching is something entirely different.

If you are paying for training, then it sounds as though you are still being sold short. Find a different system if the current one is not to your liking. If your coach is accessible in person, then go to him/her. Coach-athlete relationship is a two way street.

personal sessions are an option in his coaching services but not an option to me due to geographical distance. Interesting perspective.

I've been in your position and hesitated on what to do for months. Finally I chose a new coach and can't believe the difference. I wish I hadn't waited so long to find someone who actually did their job.

I am a low-maintenance runner. I rarely needed comments or questions answered so when I did, I didn't want to wait a week for an answer. I am not paying for that. Good luck! You'll improve with any good coach, not just that coach. Next time, be clear up front about communication expectations